PRIMROSE: CHASING FLAMES a short story
by Alex'EverdeenHungerGamesUFO
Summary: We are all quick to accept the heroic, likeable, 'villager's little darling' personality which is perceived through Suzanne Collins' writings about her in "The Hunger Games"... But the untold Secret story about everybody's sweetheart has yet to be told... Here lies the truth about the girl who lived up to the dizzy heights of her sister's famous flames.
1. come on up dear

**ONE**

**"come on up dear"**

**I woke up, cold sweat trickling down my fiery face. Breathing heavily, I looked around the dark, dusty, dirty room in which me, my sister, my mother and my cat, buttercup slept. The loud ticking noise of our rusty clock gave life to the deadly silence. Katniss lay silently asleep next to me, buttercup and my mother lay on the bed opposite. I slowly crawled out of the warm bed, into the cold, stale air. I crossed the small room, creaking on the floorboards as I went and crawled Into the bed next to my mother. Buttercup sprang into life and curled up next to me. I fell into a cold sleep feeling even less safe than before. I woke to my mother's cool, calm voice in the morning. **

**The reaping. I started to panic, but my mom soon calmed me, and I managed to keep calm. Everything will be okay, Katniss will protect me. I noticed she had took the cheese I set out for her and felt better knowing that she would have known I loved her before she went out hunting. I was also pleased that she would probably share it with Gale. After a few hours of petting buttercup and finishing off stitching torn cloths and socks to make a blanket, I got washed from the big metal bucket my mother filled with about a quater of the hot water we would get that month. When mother came back from buying new socks, hair ties and pins from the hob for me and my sister, she produced a lovely white, ruffled blouse and black, pleated skirt. I slipped them on while my mother polished my good shoes. After that Katniss came hustling in with a sack full of game and strawberries while mother braided my hair in two plaits on either side. The cool breeze which swept through the door replaced the smell of dirty bathing water and shoe polish. It was a relief to see katniss didn't seem too worried about today. We all sat down to eat some of the food Katniss brought back, then she went to get changed. An hour later, she swanned gracefully down the stairs. She looked so beautiful. Her bluebell dress floated slightly in the fresh, cold breeze that entered still through the half open door. Her already naturally pretty face had been highlighted by some of my mother's rationed make-up, bringing out her warm ice eyes. Her pale skin shone, despite the dark, musky room. The little light that shone from the clouded sky outdoors**** barely made a difference. We set off for the justice building in silence after a very intense conversation about what to do when we got there.**

**My ears fought a loosing battle with the whispering that hissed in the air. I could slightly hear my sisters' soothing voice over the uproar around me. She was telling me instructions of where to go when we get through the checkpoint. We made our way through the electric crowd, and left my mother somewhere near the gates to the big, old building. I chocked many times on the dust frkm the stampede. Girls screaming, boys taking care of their younger brothers and sisters, utter chaos around me- and after taking a good look round the rest of district twelve's population, i realised how brave my sister was. Even putting one step in front of another was becoming hard. We reached the entrance to the square the other children were standing. I watched a boy get pricked in the fingertip. Katniss told me it would be okay and we proceeded. A woman's voice spoke from begin her visor, "finger please" in a cold voice and grabbed my hand. The prick sent electricity up through my arm and goosebumps ran up my skinny arms and deep into my stomach. I could slightly hear my sisters attempts to calm me down, but the lump in my throat made it hard to talk- with one last calming squeeze, Katniss left me, alone. Suddenly I was surrounded by a sea of babbling girls shaking and red-faced, trying to fight the waves of sound in my own. I realised I wasn't the smallest there and felt my shoulders lift. Soon my body felt so numb, I felt like I was floating on water. I stood for what seemed like hours until I realised something had changed about my already hostile environment, every single girl and boy in the sea were pressing their gaze onto me, boring into every inch of my frozen flesh. The pressure became too much to handle.**

**Everything around me was starting to fade into blackness, until I caught sight of two very familiar eyes; Katniss. She covered her mouth with her shaking hands and I could see tears streaming down her beautiful face. Oh how I wanted her beauty... I had just started to feel warm and safe again until the hungry-eyed sea parted, and there stood a pale woman. She pursed her pink lips and flapped her wing- like eyelashes. Her face almost looked like some twisted joke of a Halloween mask. She repeated "Primrose Everdeen, come on up dear".**

**I almost laughed, was this a joke? Was I blocking out the sound too much, or was the crowd of menacing eyes silent? Before I knew, I was climbing the stone steps and paused at what seemed like my sisters voice... But from a distance. Soon I was watching her fragile body move shakily up to the stage, her beautiful blue dress floating in the breeze. A ringing in my ear snapped me into the real world- silent as it was. I realised what had happened and my sisters voice rang in my head, " I- I volunteer as t-tribute!". My body took over and soon I was kicking and screaming, clawing at my sisters dying footsteps... I felt hands on my shoulders and didn't bother to look round- I knew it was gale. I knew that because his hands were warm and gentile. She was disappearing into the distance.**

**It took me a while to find my mother, but i found her near the back of the crowd, near collapse. I supported her and just as we stood properly, as one- the capitol security in white armour were taking a direct path through the fading crowd, now only stood gamblers taking their winnings or causing havoc in their drunken state. The Capitol officials finally led us to the old justice building where peeta Mellark's parents we being ushered into. I guessed it was his parents because they looked like him, but also there would be no other reason that this couple would be here, on this day, otherwise. We entered a big hall with a big pearl-coloured marble staircase, and golden trimmed walls, all of which were stained, rusty and severely damaged. Still supporting the shell of my mother, I climbed the steps, feeling like I was about to be sick. So far I hadn't had a chance to really take in what had happened over the past half hour, but one sound recalled everything over in my head. I could hear Katniss' voice, straining to speak with the lump in her throat, through one of the two doors. I looked blankly at the security guards black face shield and my knees threatened to give way with a big jolt. I stayed standing. Just then he muttered something through his visor, but I failed to hear what he said. I simply took the hint by his jab in my back that it was time. Then Suddenly, Gale bounded out of the big wooden door, gave me and my mother a sideways look and ducked his head down, and Continued walking.**

**My mother gave another burst of unbearable screeching and continued to sob. As we started to walk the small distance of the short hall, I caught a glimpse of Peeta's parents coming out of the next room, the mother gave an evil look our way with her bloodshot eyes as she left through the door at the side of us,but the man stayed behind and sat on the bench on the other side of the narrow corridor, to where the white-armoured men surrounded him. We entered Katniss' room. I looked into her eyes and realised the full extent of this situation. Time stood still. After a minute or so, she ran towards me. At first I thought she was angry, and then she held me in a tight embrace and held me until my knees nearly gave way. She spoke to me Intensely but all I could focus on was her beautiful face. I still had the pin she gave me clutched in my free hand, I took her trembling hand and placed the ice cold metal mockingjay into her soft palm. She looked at it, and reluctantly took it. Then She talked to my mother who did not look in the slightest lime She had been crying, she stayed strong for Katniss. The image of my sister stayed in my confused head and as people grabbed my hands or gave a slight embrace, the salty drips continued to dry out my lips. All of a sudden I was alone again, amidst the lonely dust from the sea which had one engulfed me. Then i realised...My mother was gone.**

**I found her some fearful twenty minutes later, thinking she had made a run for it, but i soon realised ****she had swanned off over to ripper for alcohol which was half gone by the time I found her in the corner of the square, singing a strange song about miners. Some of the lines I recognised as some of my father's. It took me a while to think of what to do, 'what would Katniss have done?', I asked myself. Katniss probably would have left her for dead, but this woman was the only hope I had... Without my sister, how was I to survive? I had to help her, otherwise I was digging my own grave. I crouched down next to her trembling body and realised how this must be effecting her. Katniss, gone, our father gone. Now she was left with a helpless little girl who owned a goat and barely earned enough money to buy grain.**

**At that moment, my stomach did a summersault, it suddenly occurred to me that this could have been all my fault. I let Katniss go in my place, I hadn't fought enough and maybe she could be dead in a few weeks. Soon I had picked my mother up, feeling guilty, and walked her home and lay her down In her broken bed and kissed her goodnight. It was still light out but I felt an early night was in order. As I settled Into my own bed, which felt cold and dead as Katniss was not there, I thought about the confused events of the day, and slowly drifted off Into a restless sleep.**

**When i woke,I stretched my fingers, searching for warmth, but I only found the rough surface of the canvas mattress.**

**For a moment, I thought Katniss might have been next to me, and then a sickly feeling burst into my stomach. For a few moments I lay silent, trying to find a heartbeat, breathing- any sign of life next to me. Nothing. I sat up with my eyes closed, not wanting to reveal the truth to myself, and stroked the cold bed beside me. An eternity of cold canvas mattress. I wondered where she was at that moment. Would she still be on the train? Or was she at the Capitol? Images of her being shot in the chest with an arrow faded in and out of my mind, I felt near collapse at the thought. I got out of bed and looked around the dark room, the smell of damp clouding my mind even more. I went over to the make-shift curtains, made by buttercup's blanket (he was let out while we went to the reaping) and only small pools of light illuminated the rear end of the room. I drew back the curtains, this taking up much of my energy, and turned around to wake my mother, untill I realised that she was nowhere to be seen. Her bed was empty apart from my large gingery cat, buttercup, who looked utterly confused by the sudden blaze of light and angry that we took his bed, which when drawn, revealed the dusty atmosphere. Where was she? I searched the room for any sign of her, but there was nothing... Just relentless empty dusty space. I managed to heave a sigh which made my heavy chest slightly lighter. I went to where my mother should have lay and brushed buttercup with my numb fingers. He took one look at my unwashed and blotchy face, stood up and darted for the window. I was, again, all alone. What am I going to do? If my mother is gone, and I'm all alone with a cat, what will I do? I thought,What will I do to get food? At that moment I realised what i had to do, I had to look after myself, think only of myself and no one else. Obviously I would be supporting my sister as much as I could, maybe I could help her get sponsors, I thought about visiting the mayor to ask for his help...**

**At that moment, there was a big CRASH downstairs, and again, then footsteps, then there was someone coming into the bedroom. It was her. At least I thought it was. I had never seen her like that before. She had always been the strong woman I looked up to, but here , she was like a bruised, injured ghost with spindly legs, stumbling into the room. she was grasping an empty bottle of vodka and she was mumbling to herself. The silhouette of her frail, broken body stopped in its tracks and I felt like I was being watched. Then the dark figure returned into the light and knelt before the bed, sobbing limply and carelessly. At first I felt disgust as I breathed in fumes from her intoxicated body. And then I felt pity for this helpless woman. I wondered wether she would ever be the same after this, but I had to try. I had to be strong.**

**I opened the cupboard next to her bed, and took out her medical supplies. I found bottles with all sorts of different names. After moments of digging in heaps of bandages and bottles, I found some cleaning ethanol and soothing cream. I faced my mother and realised the wounds were worse than I thought, bruises and scratches covered every inch if her shaking skin. I poured some ethanol onto the scratches and grazes and put bandages over her raw palms. I rubbed some of the soothing cream on her red patches. I then took a damp cloth from the bathroom and wiped up some of the dried blood from her motionless face. She displayed no emotion apart from utter pain. She continuously winced and yelped with pain until I had her all bandaged up and settled in bed. I crept downstairs and knew what was in order. The incrutious remedy. I took leaves from several small plants and found the rest of the ingredients in some of the nearly bare cupboards. I set our pan with water over the fire, near to where the strawberries and saved food from Katniss' hunt lay. When it had started to boil, I threw the ingredients in and let it simmer for a few minutes, while an idea sprung to mind.**

**After a few minutes, I ladled some of the remedy into a bowl. I crept back up the creaky stairs and tip-toed into the bedroom, and sat down on the bed next to my mother. She was stating blankly out of the window, where the warm morning sun blazed through. "I have to do this Mom", I said shakily. She didn't move," it's the incrutious remedy...". At this she stirred and gave me a hostile look.**

**"the-the incrutious r- remedy?", her eyes glouped into pools of pity, she began to tremble even more," w-what do you m-mean, the incrutious remedy?"**

**"it will help you get better, we can't let Katniss know about this, if she does come back, because I don't-I- I don't...want to loose you". There was a defending silence.**

**"O-okay", she said in a hopeless voice, "but make it quick".**

**I slowly moved the chipped bowl over to her mouth with a big silver spoon ready to ladle some to her dry mouth, "only a few sips and it will all be over", I said in a calm, controlled voice. We both knew that was a lie but she still nodded her limp head. We both knew that after the first drop there is no going back, she would have to drink as much as was needed. My mother stared at the Spoon with Horrified eyes as it edged nearer to her mouth. As it began to enter her mouth, she started to breathe heavily and panic spread across her face- but it was too late, the first drop began to fall. Everything seemed to slow down- the drop edging nearer and nearer. The lump in my throat grew again and my stomach tied in knots as I saw her horrified face-**

**Everything stood still. For a second I thought it hadn't worked. Then her eyes shot open with shock, liquid racing down her cheeks. Again, time stood still and I looked into her desperate eyes which had melted. Then, a horrifying scream bounced off the walls and deafened my ears. Her body started to squirm into grotesque shapes and her fragile bones began on click and snap back into place, but this was a drop in the ocean. She began to tremble and as I slipped the next spoon into her Mouth, and again there was a murderous silence as my mother gasped for air. She then bellowed a huge scream which startled me, she began to look wildly around the empty room, and screaming with fear, then wincing in pain as she slowly moved. Her eyes began to roll and her body was becoming limp, but she would have to drink it all or she could die. Spoon after spoon of incrutious remedy and my mother was beginning to pass out with the pain, she had started to loose her voice and her bones were sticking out in disgusting torturous angles. Her face twisted as the poison finally reached her bloodstream, and after another spoon-full, the effects were becoming visible. Only one more spoon, but she was fading out, her eyes closing, I quickly scooped up the last of the yellow liquid and moved it over to my mother's mouth. She was gone. She wasn't breathing, she had stopped fighting. I slipped the last of the remedy into her lifeless mouth. There was silence... Apart from my own beating heart, that could be heard like my heart was now situated in my head, so it was beating directly into my ears. I sat there, watching, waiting, praying to god it was not too late, was it all over? Was she dead? Still silence rang in the room. Just as I was starting to try to resuscitate her, she gave a slight cough and gave a small smile at me, then said, " we did it... You did it!". We just stared at each other for a while until I helped her over to her bed, noticing the great improvement in her appearance "come, lie next to me", she said in a whisper, "you've just saved me".**


	2. try and be yourself

TWO

try and be yourself

She fell asleep but I stayed awake, knowing what I was going to do. I slipped out of her caring arms, took one last look at her and turned to walk out of the house. I took Katniss' hunting bag, and slipped on her worn leather boots; which were a little too big, and tied up my hair, not like Katniss', but a more central braid... And set off for the fence at the edge of the seam.

I walked down the dusty street and turned towards the edge of the forest. Everything was dead. No one to be seen. I passed the hob (the black market) and met with the old metal fence, where the forest ended at the edge of our district. I pressed my ear close to the fence and tested it for the Hum which meant it was alive with electricity, but the only thing I could hear was the sound of the beautiful mockingjays. I ducked down and climbed through the rickety fence and stood up on the other side after looking around to see if anyone was spying. The smell of fresh green and wood flooded my nostrils. The sounds of birds singing and owls hooting punctured the stale air. The cool breeze grazed my face. Tall, strong trees towered above me. Small windows of light danced on my face. I recognised this place because my sister had took me here many times to try and teach me hunting- but I couldn't, I just couldn't kill an animal... But now, I was ready, I needed to relieve my anger from the past day or so, Katniss leaving, me being chose as tribute, her Taking my place, my mother, the state she was in, everything I felt from the past twenty hours or so would be forgotten for one moment of relief. I sucked in the cool, fresh air through my nose and set off into the woods, feeling thoroughly brave.

I made it down the bank and found the tree with Katniss' bow was hidden inside of it, and the log with the arrows stashed in the hollow centre. My hands were shaking with anticipation for prey to come along, ready to let myself go. The minutes dragged by as i walked further and further into the forest but there was still so sign of a bird, a fox, a rabbit, nothing! This frustrated me and I wondered how she ever managed it. It must have been an hour before I heard or spotted any movement. But just as I was thinking that it was a bad idea, the bush on the right of me gave a big rustle and then the sound of twigs snapping caused my stomach to jump with excitement, I felt so alive. Straining my eyes and ears to try and detect any movement, I loaded the bow with one of the arrows and stood strong. I waited and waited, but nothing else happened. Just silence, no birds sang, the trees did not rustle in the breeze- the world stood still. I looked all around me, desperate to catch a glimpse of what had made the noise, hungry to find it. My heart started to beat so hard I wasn't sure if that was scaring everything away. I strained my ears so much I could hear my blood pumping in them. And then I heard it, it was right behind me... I turned slowly, trying not to make too much noise as I did it. I could hear the beast panting behind me, panic striking my leaping heart. I felt the blood drain away from my face and I finally caught a glimpse of what I had heard. I front of me, in this thick dense forest, stood a big, black, disgusting, towering bear.

It's beady eyes bore into mine and for some reason they almost reminded me of Katniss' big blue eyes. It stood still, only ten feet away, I stood as quiet as I could, trying to control my breathing. Again the forest around me drew in a deep breath as i stood silent, as did I. I did not know what to do, and then something very strange happened...

Katniss was stood next to the bear. The sparkle in her eye matched that of the bear's. Suddenly, the bear leaped toward me , starting to run furiously. I held up my bow, and so did Katniss, she still had her blue dress from the reaping on, but i had to think about the bear.I panicked and shot an arrow astray, and heard something shatter next to where the bear used to stand. I quickly loaded another arrow and just before the bear reached me, it stopped dead in its tracks. Moments went by, my heart still beating fast and curious of what had happened, I looked at my empty bow and then the bear... I had shot it and straight in the eye, just like Katniss used to.

The dead bear dropped inches away from Katniss' leather boots. The ground shook as it fell in front of me. I paused for a moment and wondered what I would do with it. Then i remembered about katniss, who had vanished ,But something even more strange had replaced her, something that made shivers trickle down my spine.

I stood and looked upon what had smashed moments ago. A big mirror ran along the length of the forest and out of sight, reflecting the forest as if it carried on as normal. In front of me was a large hole, many cracks tore through the visible stretch of the mirror, and lots of shattered glass lay on the floor. When I looked at the reflection in one of the larger shards, I saw one of Katniss' beautiful blue eyes appear. This scared me slightly but what lay beyond the mirror scared me more.

The forest stopped abruptly and beyond the mirror stood tall, glass buildings, Tarmac roads and brightly dressed, white-faced women and men who wore barbarous-coloured pin striped suits and big hair cuts. Where was this? Hovercrafts zoomed across in the air, and many voices muttered as people went by, totally oblivious of the large hole in which a small girl stood inside. My eyes stung from a small similar to coal that made me feel sick. A small child appeared directly opposite of the hole in the mirror. She had flat, pink hair; large, blue eyelashes and a big, round, ball- like shaped, bright pink dress that went down to her ankles. She stared right Into my dark brown eyes with her big purple ones and smiled curiously. Then a high- pitched, manic voice approached the girl and squeaked, "come on, we're going to be late for the-". The owner of the voice, a pointed- nosed woman with her body covered in feathers, grappled the girls arm and them looked with confusion and curiosity to where primrose was standing," what are you looking at lootsie?" asked the woman in a high pitched voice with what seemed like a hint of concern.

"oh, nothing, muma. I just thought I saw a carpet-steel dragon fly", said the little girl in what sounded like a mouse squeak.

"c'mon, we'll be late...", the woman said in a dismissive voice. Just as the woman started to pull the girl along, the toddler gave another smile and a small, hurried wave good-bye. Primrose now recognised this, by the woman's high- pitched accent, as the Capitol.

I started to back away from the mirror, as in it was about to swallow me whole, in complete awe about what had just happened. How could this be? The Capitol was days away from our district? How could it be on the other side of this mirror? And why could only the little girl see me? Not even noticing the big, brown bear beside me, I stared into the hole as if to try and identify where this was in the Capitol. I wondered where my sister was right now, I presumed she would be at the capitol by then. For hours I stood, desperate for the chance to see her pretty face again, but there was no sign of her. I gave up after a while, growing tired of the squeaky accent of the people walking past. I looked down at the bear and wondered about how I would move it. I thought about where I could take it, I couldn't just stride through the Seam with a huge bear trailing behind me. Before I had time to think about it anymore, the sound of someone striding through the forest forced me to hide behind the nearest bush.

As I did this, I could hear the footsteps getting closer. Had someone spotted me? Was I going to be punished by death? As the crunching noises became louder, so did my heartbeat...no strained my ears as much as I could for any noise that could give the identity of the person away. The person came to a halt, just before the small clearing and stood in the shadows of the trees. The world stood still, I almost felt safer behind the bush. As the figure moved slowly out of the shadows, my heart gave a leap of apprehension. The tall, broad man stood still, just in the light of the clearance, and as far as I could see through the small gap in the leaves, It was Gale, poised with a small knife. My heart skipped a beat with relief. He stepped closer to the dead bear, a perplexed look upon his face, and pulled the arrow from the huge creature's eye socket. He examined it closely. Recognising the arrow and the place where it had struck the bear, he whispered, " Katniss?" in a puzzled tone. He gave a wary look around the forest. Surprised that gale hadn't noticed the huge mirror and gaping hole, I looked just further to where the bear lay, and was astonished I find that the hole had closed up. I watched Gale look more and more puzzled and decided to tell him of my where-a-bouts. I slowly stood up, and Gale's puzzled face grew more perplexed. But he wander looking at me, he was looking at Katniss standing over where the hole in the mirror used to be.

She was standing behind an identical bush to mine, but it looked as in she was beyond where the mirror, which wasn't noticeable, was. To the left of Katniss stood a man with close comparison to Gale himself, just broader and in a miner's suit. He smiled just like gale, and waved at exactly the same time as Him, with the same shaped, gentile hands. as Gale broke down on the floor, roaring while he sobbed, so did the older man in the mirror. I jumped up and embraced him tightly, he did not turn around nor say anything, we just comforted each other. After a few minutes, he looked up to look at me, and was startled to see me. He must of thought I was Katniss, we looked over to where She was standing and gasped on disbelief. She was hugging the older man the same way me and gale were. That's when I realised what was happening. These people only existed in the mirror, and we're reflections of me and Gale. I told Gale about the mirror, and the bear, and how I saw the Capitol through the hole. He told me he had heard rumours that deep in the forest, laid a mirror where the person you admired and wanted to be like the most, would appear instead of yourself in the reflection. I felt slightly embarrassed that he had saw Katniss in place of my reflection on the mirror, but he didn't say anything to me. He told me the story of his father and how he died, and after that we walked back through the gloomy forest to the fence. Gale dragged the beat with spare rope and we took it to the hob, not far away from the forest. We narrowly missed several peace keepers but finally made it to the old miner's joint.

When we walked in, there was a certain buzz about the dismal space, but when people caught sight of me and Gale with a large bear, the quiet talked died down. Everyone stared. It reminded me of the reaping. As I looked worryingly up to Gale, the black market sprung to life. We took the bear to greasy sal and got Enough food for a feast with the money and items she gave us after telling us that the bear would be perfect for his new soup he was making. Game reluctantly accepted his half of our takings and walked me home. When we arrived at my small house, there was a second of awkwardness between me and Gale, and I could tell he was dying to ask me about what he had seen in the mirror. "it's okay, you know", I finally said," you can ask me". For a moment it looked like he was going to shake his head, but he finally said,

"I understand why you might want to be like her", he paused for a second, dipping his head, "but you need to try and be yourself."

"your mother needs you to be there for her, you don't need to go hunting, because what if she loses you, too? You need to look after her, for yours and Katniss' sake"

Again there was a moment of silence, then kissed me gently on my forehead, and left without another word. Feeling grateful that something good had happened for the first time in days, I tip-toed into the silent and lonely house and crept up the stairs. When I looked at the clock, it read five o'clock. My mother was sat on the edge of her bed, and jumped at the sight of me. She ran at me and embraced me tight. When she started to back away I saw her read an blotchy face." I thought you were gone", she said in a choked voice. I smiled as if it was nothing and shook the pouch I had that was overflowing with medical herbs, edible plants, a small rabbit, and two chickens. I also brought paper, wool, string, thread, needles, milk, eggs, a block of chesse, and a book about a girl called alice who lives in a place called wonderland, spare buttons and a small present for my mother. I handed her a small leather box, with close size to the box of buttons I handed her to sew onto her missing buttons on many old clothes. She opened it carefully and gasped with delight.

She took the right out of its box and slipped it on. It was gold, with a pearl and two small diamonds encrusted on the front. On the back, the words 'I love you, mom' were engraved. I bought this very cheap from rickety Ralph who sells all sorts of dodgy stuff, from old books to spare pieces of wood. I bought the ring for less than he was charging for a smashed beer bottle, but we look out for each other at the seam, and I guess he felt sorry for me and my mother after the reaping. She gave me a big hug, then took the herbs and other bits and bobs, and placed them in her medical box. She took the meat, milk, eggs and cheese downstairs to cook for dinner. I was left with the book and paper. I went to lie down on my bed and fell asleep as soon as I touched the mattress. After all, it had been a long and draining day.


End file.
